Allan J Grant and Associates, Architects. Chicago, Illinois
3 Reasons You Might Want An Architect On Your Interior Remodeling Project... Condominium owners in Lincoln Park, Lakeview and the Gold Coast along Chicago #39;s lakefront are often looking for...

By: Allan J Grant and Associates, Architects

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Allan J Grant and Associates, Architects. Chicago, Illinois - Video

Architects @ Muzic Slammer Show
Hello, This is a face to face chat session with ARCHITECTS who had Played in India in January 2014 at Saarang Festival, IIT-Madras. We got to have a conversation with them about their upcoming...

By: Muzic Slammer

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Architects @ Muzic Slammer Show - Video

Former Vice President Dick Cheney stepped up his offensive against President Barack Obama today by accusing the commander-in-chief of underestimating the terrorist threat and not doing enough to confront it.

Were in for big trouble in the years ahead because of his refusal to recognize reality and because of his continual emphasis upon getting the U.S. basically to withdraw from that part of the world, Cheney, a Republican, said of the Middle East and Afghanistan, in an interview on ABCs This Week program.

Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, said on NBCs Meet the Press that he doesnt blame Obama for the current turmoil in Iraq, pointing the finger partly at those who originally supported the war. Paul and Cheneys conflicting views show a schism in their party over the Mideast and on foreign policy in general.

Cheney, one of the key architects of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq that ousted Saddam Hussein, has increased his criticism and visibility as Iraq teeters on the brink of civil war. Obama withdrew all troops from the country in 2011 after failing to reach a security agreement with the Iraqi government for an extended U.S. military presence.

Even as he attacked Obama, who is deploying 300 special operations forces to gather intelligence on Iraq, Cheney declined to outline a specific military strategy. He didnt say whether he favors air strikes or more extensive action.

When were arguing over 300 advisers when the request had been for 20,000 in order to do the job right, Im not sure weve really addressed the problem, he said.

While advocating training and weapons for the resistance up in Syria, Cheney said, At this point there are no good, easy answers in Iraq.

White House officials have shrugged off the criticism and Democratic lawmakers such as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have faulted Cheney for misjudgments on the war.

Cheney had said he had no doubt Saddam was reconstituting chemical and biological weapons. The former vice president in 2003 said the U.S. would be greeted as liberators and that several hundred thousand troops wouldnt be needed to provide security once the conflict ends.

Asked about such claims in todays broadcast, Cheney made no apologies.

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Cheney Says U.S. Headed for Big Trouble on Terrorism

The Table for 1200 on Esplanade Riel (Jacqueline Young)

It was Saturday night, and 1,200 people were dressed in white and sitting down to dinner on the Esplanade Riel above the Red River, where 150 tables showcased food from the citys top chefs. The people behind the event, a group of architects who call themselves 5468796, were there, too each hosting a table, and drinking in the atmosphere of a city thats come alive in recent years. Johanna Hurme, a partner in 5468796, was sporting big purple sunglasses and mingling with out-of-town architects. It really was a success, she says. It felt like the true spirit of Winnipeg came out.

Many Canadians, even some Winnipeggers, might be surprised at that cultured confidence. But 5468796 is leading a new generation of local architects to invent a new city, and perhaps a new Canada, that gives innovative architecture a seat at the table. Manitobas capital city, after decades of stasis, is seeing an architectural rebirth, and 5468796 is at the centre of it. The firm is just seven years old, and its three partners relatively young: the Finnish-born Hurme is 38; the Bosnian-born Sasa Radulovic, 41; and Colin Neufeld, 38.

Yet theyve managed to realize a remarkable set of projects. Among them are a condo building with units that fit together like a 3-D puzzle.

As well, theres been a renovation that added sleek steel balconies to a historic facade on Portage Avenue, and a bandshell with walls made from 20,000 pieces of aluminum chain mail. Theyve won Canadian and international architecture awards, consistent attention from design blogs, and a partnership with a New York think tank.

And theyve done so while smashing preconceptions about what is possible for their city and their profession. I think were a bit naive, says Radulovic, and we work not to let go of that. If the answer is No, we ask, Why not?

The Avenue on Portage (James Brittain)

If you are a young English-Canadian architect with ambitions to design innovative buildings, the route to success can be long and circuitous. After working in the right offices and completing an arduous licensing process, you may teach, and take whatever work you can get renovating kitchens and houses. By then, you are probably pushing 40. Next, you seek out meaningful work, where you can control the details and the materials to realize your vision. This usually means homes for affluent and engaged clients, and then public buildings if you can beat your more experienced peers for the job. Then, you retire.

This is why too many Canadian architects are stuck in a prison of polished concrete, making beautiful buildings for the very few. The three partners of 5468796 have demolished that model.

They met as students at the University of Manitobas well-regarded architecture school. Radulovic was a Sarajevo native who had landed in Canada as a refugee in his 20s; Hurme had come to a small Manitoba town as a high-school exchange student from Helsinki. The two formed an intellectual partnership, both outsiders by birth and equally outspoken. That status, Hurme says, helps in questioning your context and not taking things for granted.

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Reimagining Winnipeg: What these fearless architects can teach the rest of Canada

The latest hearing at the Paramus Zoning Board of Adjustment on the construction of a Panera Bread and retail space at 770 Route 17 north was briefly interrupted following a heated exchanged between the applicant and objectors.

The outburst occurred while the objector's attorney was questioning the applicant's witnesses, and prompted objector Richard Cacciatore to leave the room. In response, zoning board vice chairman Gerald Rickelmann called for a short recess. He said that neither side of the debate wanted such a tense situation during proceedings.

"What happened here tonight cannot and will not happen again. I am going to give a warning on the record to the applicant, because I felt people were uncomfortable in here," Rickelmann said. "I don't think anybody should have to tolerate feeling that uncomfortable when there's tempers flaring."

The application's objectors consist of a group of residents who live near the property where the restaurant and retail are proposed, and are concerned that the restaurant could affect their quality of life. Members of the group have hired their own attorney to present their case before the board.

The current plan is related to the Equinox Health Club property next door, which was also opposed by neighbors but approved by the Planning Board in 2011. The new application shares a parking lot with the existing structure, creating a total of 453 parking spaces while 598 are required.

The site of the current application is home to an abandoned structure that will be demolished and replaced with a 15,000-square-foot undetermined retail space and a 4,500-square-foot restaurant with drive-through that will be used to house a Panera Bread.

At the end of the previous hearing, the board suggested traffic engineer Hal Simoff gather more data for determining traffic at the restaurant. During previous testimony he stated that he had not performed a full traffic study in Paramus, and was using observations from a similar-sized franchise in Edison.

Simoff presented a new report on the capability of the restaurant's drive-through to stack cars. He returned to the Edison restaurant, which also has a drive-through and is located next to a major highway, and conducted a traffic count from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., peak lunch hours.

The Edison location can queue nine cars at once, the same intensity planned for the Paramus facility, according to Simoff. Each half-hour segment saw 13 to 19 cars enter the queue, with an average time spent of eight minutes. The peak hour for the drive-through consisted of 34 cars, which was the approximate number put forth by the applicant when they designed the size of the queue.

"The actual studies indicate that with a peak hour count of 34 vehicles, the queue never exceeded eight vehicles," Simoff said. "Therefore, I would suggest the numbers are comparable to the Paramus Panera Bread site."

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Paramus zoning board meeting gets heated

County and state officials on Monday broke ground on the first step of a $180 million mixed-use project that will bring housing, office and retail space to a plot of land next to the Savage MARC station in Howard County.

The Annapolis Junction project will combine 416 apartments, 100,000 square feet of office space, 17,000 square feet of retail space and a 150-room hotel on the nearly 19-acre site, located close to the National Security Agency's headquarters at Fort Meade.

The groundbreaking June 9 was for a 704-space parking garage for the development, which is a joint effort by the Howard County government, the Maryland Department of Transportation and private developers Somerset Construction Company and OA Partners.

The garage will incorporate space for buses bringing employees from Baltimore's Pennsylvania Station and Washington's Union Station to Fort Meade. Officials said 57,000 cars currently pass through Fort Meade every day.

We have formed a partnership to support the mission of Fort Meade, help workers get on and off the base, and bring much-needed economic growth to an important part of the county, Howard County Executive Ken Ulman said of the project in a statement.

The development is scheduled to be finished by spring 2016 and is expected to create 712 new permanent jobs, as well as several hundred temporary construction jobs, officials said.

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Crews break ground on Annapolis Junction project

Property developer Megaworld Corp. expects to develop more than five million square meters of residential, office, property and retail space over the next 10 years, replicating its scale of production during the last 25 years.

On its silver anniversary this 2014, Megaworld expects to grow its net income and revenues by a double-digit level, said company executive director Kingson Sian.

If the company were to grow by at least 10 percent this year, this suggests that Megaworld may end the year with a net profit breaching the P10-billion mark. Net profit in 2013 amounted to P9.04 billion, which included P763 million in non-recurring income from the acquisition of a subsidiary with a landbank whose values have increased even prior to development.

Reservation sales this year are seen breaching P70 billion from last years P68 billion.

Since the companys inception, Sian said the company had completed five million square meters of residential, office and retail space in various township projects. About the same amount of projects had been either launched or already under construction to date. What weve done in the last 25 years, well do in the next 10 years, Sian told stockholders.

In line with this, Sian said the company was on track to build up rental assets that would generate an annual recurring income of at least P10 billion by 2017 or 2018. This year, rental income was seen reaching P7 billion compared to about P6 billion last year, he said.

We pretty much add close to a billion (pesos) a year in rental income, Sian said, noting this would come from the development of new assets as well as in the escalation of leasing rates in the existing portfolio.

Megaworld has likewise ruled out tapping the equity market to cover the recently announced P230-billion capital spending for the next five years.

We have already mapped it out in terms of financial plan. Bulk of that P230 billion will go to residential, which is pre-sold so its self-funding. The remaining 35 percent will be funded by the rental revenue that were collecting and the P30 billion cash that were keeping in our balance sheet and potentially some debt. But definitely, (theres) no equity fund-raising, Sian said.

In a report to stockholders, Megaworld chair Andrew Tan said long-term value creation was at the core of his companys business. It is through this strategy that we have differentiated our real estate offerings from the competition and carved out a path toward the companys longevity and sustainability, he told stockholders.

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Megaworld sees net profit breaching P10B mark

Architects

Omni Architects: H. Wayne Cowan has joined the Lexington-based architectural firm as director of construction administration. Marketing manager Deborah Cutts has been promoted to senior associate.

Education

Eastern Kentucky University: Thomas Erekson, dean of the College of Business and Technology at Western Illinois University since 2006, has been named dean of the EKU College of Business and Technology, effective Aug. 1. He succeeds Robert Rogow, who will retire July 31.

Campbellsville University: Bill Goodman, host and managing editor of the Emmy Award-winning public affairs series Kentucky Tonight on Kentucky Educational Television, is joining the mass communication department as an adjunct faculty member.

Monmouth College: Clarence Wyatt has been named the 14th president of the Illinois college, effective July 1. Wyatt is a Pottinger Professor of history, chief planning officer and special assistant to the president at Centre College, where he is an alumnus and has been a part of the campus community for four decades.

Finance

Kentucky Bank: The following have been appointed to the bank's Fayette County Regional Board of Directors: William Miles Arvin Jr., attorney, Law Offices of William Miles Arvin, Nicholasville; Rose Mary Stamler Dow, president and secretary of Signal Investments, Lexington; George A. Hoskins, Thoroughbred owner and breeder and managing director of Wimbledon Farm, Lexington; Greg Ladd, founder and owner of Cross Gate Gallery, Lexington; and Wes Omohundro, CPA, Blue & Co., Lexington.

Winchester Federal Bank: Billy Dion Mullins, a Winchester native with more than 17 years of lending experience, has been named vice president and commercial loan officer.

Health care

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Personnel File local hires and promotions: Week of June 23

PIR data by YCharts.

Pier 1 Imports (NYSE: PIR) crashed by more than 13% on Thursday after reporting disappointing financial performance for the first quarter of fiscal 2015. Investors could be overreacting to the negative news in the short term, but alternatives such as Restoration Hardware (NYSE: RH) and Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM) nonetheless look like much stronger names in the home-furnishings sector.

Disappointing performance Pier 1 Imports announced that total sales during the quarter ended on May 31 increased 6.1% to $419.1 million, versus $394.9 million during the same period in fiscal 2014; this came in below analysts' expectation of $422.8 million. Comparable sales increased 6.3%, which management attributed to increases in total brand traffic, improved conversion, and higher average ticket price.

Gross profit was roughly flat during the quarter. However, gross profit margin as a percentage of sales declined to 40%,compared to 42.4% in the year-ago period,due to pricing promotions.

Net income declined from $20.3 million in the first quarter of 2014to $15 million, and net earnings per share of $0.16 came in materially below the forecast of $0.20 per share.

Adding to the negativity, the company reduced its guidance for the rest of the year. Earnings per share are expected to be in the range of $1.14 to $1.22, versus a prior guidance of between $1.16 and $1.24.

CEO Alex W. Smith said in the earnings press release that the downward guidance adjustment was due to harsh industry conditions: "The retail environment remains highly promotional and is pressuring gross profit in the near-term. As a result, we are adjusting our full-year earnings forecast accordingly."

The retail business has been notoriously difficult across many different categories lately, so margin pressure should come as no big surprise. However, it's also worth noting that Restoration Hardware and Williams-Sonoma recently reported substantially better performances than Pier 1.

Restoration Hardware and Williams-Sonoma not only operate in the same industry, but they also target a similar clientele as Pier 1 Imports. When it comes to the high-end furnishing market, these two companies seem to be gaining market share and stealing customers from Pier 1.

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Forget About Pier 1 Imports, Consider Restoration Hardware or Williams-Sonoma Instead

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KFVS) - Here is a list of road projects around the Heartland scheduled for Saturday, June 21.

Bollinger County, MO

Route H in Bollinger County will be reduced as Missouri Department of Transportation crews perform pavement repairs. This section of road is located between Route FF and Route 34. Weather permitting work will take place Monday, June 23 and Tuesday, June 24 from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.

Route AA will be closed while MoDOT crews perform pipe replacement. The section of road is located between County Road 647 and County Road 602. Weather permitting, crews will be working Tuesday, June 24 and Wednesday, June 26 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Roadwork continues on Route 67 from CR 323 to Route 160/158 signed as Route C. Traffic on the existing Route 67 north and south of Harviell will not have an outlet to the new pavement during this time. East and westbound traffic will be restricted. Existing lanes of Route 67 from CR 323 to Route 160/158 will be signed as Route C. The north end of Route C (existing Route 67) will remain closed for about two months as work is completed at the intersection of Route 67, Route C, and CR 323.

Route Y is closed as crews are removing and replacing the bridge deck over I-55 until July 1.

On June 23, Middle Street from Broadway to Themis and the intersection of Themis-Middle will be closed as the Broadway storm water relief sewer work continues through this area. Depending on weather and other factors, this work could take approximately three weeks.

Roadwork continues on Route 21 from Ripley to Carter County from US 60 to US 160 until Nov. 1.

Dunklin County, MO

Route 412 will be reduced as crews perform guardrail repairs. This section of road is located between Route U and Route NN. Weather permitting, crews will be working Tuesday, June 24 through Friday, June 27 from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. daily.

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Heartland road construction projects for 6/21